Dessa: My Own Devices

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The line for this event will form at 5:45 PM on the day of the event in front of the Strand on Broadway. This event will take place in the Rare Book Room, located on the 3rd floor of the Strand and accessible via the stairs or elevator next door at 826 Broadway. Buy a copy of My Own Devices or a $15 gift card in-store at the event to attend.

Rapper, musician and performer Dessa is a multidisciplinary artist who transcends categorization, and her new memoir/ story collection encapsulates her nature perfectly. My Own Devices explores the myriad experiences and musings of this renaissance woman. From the story of her dad engaging in a 7 yer-long endeavor to build a plane in their backyard, to her foray into the field of neuroscience as a test subject, and even the yearning trial of recording a song for the Hamilton mixtape in a Minneapolis basement, these anecdotes are packed with as much intriguing science as they are raw emotion.

Dessa finds unconventional approaches to all of her subjects--polymerizing her lived experience with academic research and a poet's cadence. In the vein of thinkers who defy categorization, we get the debut of a deft, appealing, and uncommon voice.

Dessa is a rapper, a singer, and an essayist with a hip-hop crew called Doomtree. She's landed on the Billboard Top 200 list as a solo artist (Parts of Speech, Chime), as a Doomtree member (All Hands), and as a contributor to The Hamilton Mixtape. As a writer, she's contributed to the New York Times Magazine, MPR, the Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, literary journals across the country, and has published two short collections of poetry and essays. She now splits her time between New York City, Minneapolis, and a tour van cruising at six miles per hour above the posted limit.